Marvel’s Canceled Deathlok Film Is The Black Mirror-Like Cult Classic We Need

There are a few key ingredients that define the best «Deathlok» stories: technophobia, political paranoia, and bleak dystopias. Now, here we are in 2023, and all of these ideas are at the forefront of the world’s sociopolitical discourse, seemingly on a daily basis. Why isn’t there a «Deathlok» movie in production to capitalize on this hopeless environment?

Technology continues to evolve at a worrying rate, as evidenced by the proliferation of AI replacing humans in the workforce and robots becoming more self-aware. In the world of politics, a former United States president is facing federal charges for obstructing the 2020 election, while the current commander-in-chief’s son is engulfed in numerous scandals. Meanwhile, the rest of the planet is still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that saw everyone get a taste of what it’s like to live in an actual dystopia.

A «Deathlok» movie that channels these ideas to create a horrifyingly bleak sci-fi world would resonate with the collective mood right now. Furthermore, it could inject some much-needed darkness into the MCU, which is well-established enough to take some bolder risks.